Spanakopita (updated)

A while ago I took a Greek cooking class then I made baklava and posted it here. Since my baklava post I have taken a pizza cooking class -- the Greek class is still at the top of the list with the pizza class at a close second. (I'm taking an Egyptian cooking class at the end of the month!!!!!!!!)

We had an "Around the World" pot luck at work. I knew this was the opportunity to make one of my favorite dishes from the Greek cooking class I took. 

Chicken Quinoa Soup

I made chicken noodle soup for the first time on my own and it was not very tasty. I hate adding salt but I realized after this test, that's what I was missing.

I am now on a mission to make a great chicken noodle soup; this one is on the right track :).

Baklava

I recently took a Greek Cooking class through Living Social. If you are not familiar with Living Social, you need to be. Living Social offers "things" (sorry dad, I know how much you hate that word) at a discount. For example, I've taken two cooking classes (brunch and Greek), a Kimchi demonstration class (showed me how to make Kimchi), a wine and paint class where we got two glasses of wine and painted a flower. I'm not an artist, I’m more of a crafter, so I wouldn’t do that again, but it was a great girl’s night. I also got a discounted Tough Mudder ticket (wohoo!!). I've ordered iPhone cases, skydiving experiences, 3 course dinners, tubing trips, the list goes on. Check out Living Social to find discounts in your area, it really is a great way to enjoy your city at a discount.

Any who, in the class I learned how to make VERY VERY good food, baklava, lamb kabobs, tzatziki, Greek green beans, and spanakopita. The way that the class is set up is it's two people per cooking station, my mom paired up with her friend, and I lucked out at got the whole station to myself. I also didn't have to share my spanakopita or lamb kabobs (nom nom nom). Since I wasn’t a big fan of the baklava (too much rose water for my taste) I figured I would just share it with my coworkers. They are pretty cool. The baklava was a HIT at work; I knew that's what I would be making for the next potluck...of course with a few updates to my liking :).

Pigs-in-Pigs (lil smokey's wrapped in bacon)

My friend decided to have a little pre-game-nosh party before hitting the bars on her birthday. I was tasked to make pigs-in-a-blanket. A relatively easy task if you buy the right kind of dough -- aka the sheet kind not the pre-cut kind. But that is NOT what this post is about.

So, my friend is allergic to gluten, in addition to pigs-in-a-blanket I made pigs wrapped in bacon, or pigs-in-pigs as I like to call them. They smelled amazing, and were a hit!

Ingredients
-Bacon
-Lil Smokey's

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. Cut the bacon into thirds
3. Begin wrapping the lil smokies
4. Place on cookie sheet
5. Bake for 10 minutes, or until bacon looks good! mmmmmmm

Lesson's learned:
-Use a tooth pick to keep the bacon from unrolling
-Bake them on a cookie rack so the fat will drip off


FYI, it tasted just as good as it sounds :)

LMAC: Lobster Mac & Cheese (with bacon!)

I have a friend that made lobster mac & cheese, boy oh boy was it good! It was even better the next day it was that good. I found out that he just used a regular old box of kraft mac and cheese (the deluxe kind) and just mixed in some lobster! So easy! I knew I could make it.

In addition to making LMAC, I've been wanting to find a great mac & cheese recipe... and I will tell you I am still on the hunt for that.

I used this recipe from one of my favorite websites/blog The Kitchn. I followed the recipe exactly except for a few things:

-1 pound of pasta = 1 box of pasta
-2 cups mac & cheese blend cheese mix vs just cheddar
-bacon
-lobster
-baked it
-added panko bread crumbs

Lessons learned:
-since I baked it, the LMAC really lost it's cheesyness... next time I make this I will just use 3/4's of the box
-it wasn't that flavorful... siracha was added and made it better... but I didn't like how spicy it was
-added planko bread crumbs on top... really didn't add anything to the LMAC

Overall this recipe was a bust... still looking to find a mac and cheese recipe I CAN make.

Adapted from The Kitchen:

Creamy No-Roux Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese

Serves 4 to 6

What You Need

Ingredients

1 box pasta
1 1/2 2% milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups shredded cheese, I used the Mac & Cheese blend
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon powdered mustard
3 Lobster tails

5 Pieces of bacon

Planko bread crumbs

Equipment

Pasta pot
Sauce pan
Whisk
Spatula

Instructions

1. Cook bacon: cook in the oven for 10 minutes on each side at 400 degrees.

2. Boil the Pasta: Bring about 4 quarts of water to a boil over high heat in the pasta pot. Add the pasta, cook until the pasta is al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3. Warm the Milk: When the pasta has finished cooking, prepare the cheese sauce. Begin warming 1 cup of the milk in the saucepan over medium heat. Whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup of milk and the flour until there are no lumps. When you just start to see tendrils of steam rising from the warming milk, whisk in the milk-and-flour mixture. Continue whisking gently until the milk thickens slightly to the consistency of heavy cream, 3-4 minutes. WATCH CLOSELY!! It got too hot and too thick, so I had to add more milk to water it down.

4. Make the Cheese Sauce: Turn the heat to low andmix  handfuls of cheese into the milk. Stir in the salt and mustard. Stir until all the cheese has melted and the sauce is creamy. Taste and adjust the seasonings as desired.

5. Cut add in's:  I used scissors to cut the lobster and bacon to bite size pieces, save 2 pieces to sprinkle on top

6. Combine the Pasta and Cheese Sauce: In a large serving bowl, combine the pasta and 1/2 of the cheese sauce. Stir to coat the pasta evenly. Add the second half of the sauce and bacon and lobster.

7. Baked Mac and Cheese: Pour the prepared mac and cheese into a casserole dish, cover with a lid or foil, and bake at 350°F for 1/2 hour. Remove the covering, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and bacon, bake uncovered for another 15-20 minutes until the top is golden and the interior is bubbly.

sorry for the bad image quality.. not sure what happened there

Let me know if you have any questions!